losing DD for chandler may not seem like great value but a line-up of lowry, fields, chandler, bargs, val is such a casey team. 4 good defensive guys who can chip in with some points and 1 real good scorer.

we've taken about 6mill of the books there as well (whilst not losing jose for nothing,) if we chose to amnesty amir (hansbrough and acy for back-up PF, gray to back-up val next year,) we'd have about 12mill to work with next year. Have i got that right?

Plus we've got 2 mid to late 1st rounders to work with, whilst hopefully/probably given the one we need to give houston. So a FA signing or a trade to improve the team are very possible.

not the most amazing scenario but a decent and fairly relaistic one imo. Nobody's posted a suggestion for ages either!

i know, it's not a great deal, we lose ed as well but of course a pick comes back in a year where we will probably lose ours.

also my thinking was we avoid the DD contract renewal. chandler's contract isn't great but like with landry it's a number i'm ok with for a pretty solid 2-way player. It's hard to guess at this point what DD is gonna ask for. I was always thinking it was gonna be in the 8-10mill bracket but recently i've been thinking he may accept a fair bit less than that.

edit: i'd like to see what DD and Ed can do next season as well. Especially Ed, i've got a feeling he could be much improved.

Man I'm just praying Memphis falls flat on their faces this season... If we're close to .500 and the grizzlies aren't meeting expectations, we should trade DeRozan, Calderon, and Davis for Rudy gay and Selby or Wroten (need a 3rd-string PG if calderon's traded and Lucas becomes primary backup PG). Memphis saves money and they'll have reached their peak with that core, plus they get a young, cheaper replacement for gay so they might go for it. We turn multiple assets (including 1 who could easily be gone next season anyway - Calderon - one who will probably be looking to be overpaid next summer - DD - and one unlikely to be happy with his role this season due to our depth anyway - Ed) into an upgrade at a position of need. All 3 players are expendable at this point, especially with the amount of redundant talent at their positions. Someone like Wroten could thrive for short periods in a line-up featuring athletic shooters like Ross, Gay, and Bargnani, as well as a capable pick and roll finisher like Val or Amir.... If either Ed or DD shows real improvement early on, maybe we get Memphis to throw in a draft pick, if both improve enough we don't need this trade anyway. For now, we need what Rudy brings to the table and it would thin out the logjam at multiple positions (PG, SG, PF) while upgrading (utilized) athleticism, shooting from the wing, perimeter D and go-to scoring, all in a position of need. Ya he's overpaid, but Bargs is arguably underpaid and Lowry definitely is, and 2 of our potential starters in this scenario (Ross and Val) are just starting their rookie contracts so we can afford gay easier than Memphis can. Another thing to note: unless they really show serious improvement, both Ed and DeMar are more likely to lower their trade values the longer they remain with the Raptors as teams become less convinced of their potential and their competition eats into their minutes. This is especially true with DD as he's about to become a lot less affordable next summer.